Thing a Day 28: Counting Down

I can't believe it's the last day of February already! Thing a Day was much easier for me this year than last year. (Which is probably directly related to the fact that many days I took the easy route. Like the day I made Memories. Or the time I spent three minutes folding up a square of paper into a scary rabbit. Or the day I made toast. *sigh* Those were good days...)

Since today is the last day of Thing a Day, it seems fitting that I start looking to the future. TAD helped me pass the otherwise cold and SNOWY month of February. However, we have a Big Deal coming up in almost exactly three months. 92 days, to be exact. To help my daughter get ready for it, we broke out the construction paper, crayons, paper cutter and tape and made a Great Big Paper Chain. It is 92 links, and nearly 18 feet long. Each day, she will be hoisted up to break off one of the links. 

And no, I won't tell you what the Big Deal is. Because I'm superstitious like that. BUT, I'll tell you what I will do - if you'd like to see more of what I'm working on (because, really, who can stop Crafting?) come on over to http://www.lolo-craft.blogspot.com and check it out. I promise I'll tell you in a few days what the Big Deal is!

Keep Calm and Craft On, y'all. 

Thing a Day 27: Choco Chip Muffins

I'm reeeeeeaaaally sorry about this yucky picture...but this is what I made today!! My husband spent the first hour of the day shoveling snow while the two littles and I made these muffins. I spent my morning at a baptism service (with my preschooler daughter in tow) and we all spent our afternoon running errands and avoiding the house we've been cooped up in all week. The last hour of the day was spent clearing away all the evidence of a week spent at home...and these muffins are what ya get today. *grin*

I wish I could at least say they were tasty...but they came out tough. *sigh* Anyone have a great muffin recipe?? I do so love a good muffin.....

Here's something to make you feel better, though - I found my pictures of BBJ in her Chinese New Year get up!!  Since CNY was on a Sunday this year (and Valentine's Day!) I thought it was appropriate that she wear this pink outfit to church. (Yes, she wore pants...sorry. It's formal wear in China, even if it does look like really fancy pajamas here.....besides, she's three. It was cute!)

Thing a Day 26: Grape Scented Roses

Today was...another snow day. It. Never. Stopped.

That being the case, everybody stayed home and, in fact, never even got dressed! One of our activities today was Playdough Time. I had always heard that roses are an easy thing to make...turns out They were right! A little spiral deal in the middle...and then I just pinched off pieces of clay, squished them, and attached them in a spiral. Voila! I kind of like it. *grin* 

Thing a Day 25: SNOW

I was in charge of our little preschool group today...and for the live of me couldn't come up with any lesson topic more interesting than SNOW. (That might have something to do with our forecast here in New England for the weekend. *sigh*) I went scrounging around on Craft Crow for some ideas...and here's what I came up with!
(See those little purple snowmen? Mine is the saucy one in the middle with the sweet neck wrap. Awwwww yeah. I rock.) After that, my Awesome Creative Powers were limited to crafting the faces for those little fiber-fill snowmen.

Thing a Day 24: Itteh Bitteh Quilted Thingeh

Ok, so the title of the post isn't great, but! I finished a teeny tiny quilt! 

You might recognize the patches - they're left over from a baby quilt I made last week with some friends. (What do you do with left over quilting patches? The Wonky Nine Patch pattern makes patches in multiples of nine. In this case, I made 27. The quilt only needed 23. WWYD?)

I was seized with the notion, yesterday afternoon, to throw some of the extra patches together into a tiny quilt. Voila! A few straight seams, 30 blissful minutes meandering around the quilt in free motion mode....I straight stitched the binding on this morning, and then finished hand sewing the binding at a friend's house during our weekly Crafty Playdate. 

As I worked on my tiny masterpiece, a few ladies asked me What is it? Umm...hrm. That's a good question! I intended it to be a wall hanging for a friend's nursery (she admired the original quilt and said it would match her own nursery. *Ssshhhhhh* It's a surprise!) However, I could see how this might make a nice little doll quilt. Or even a small pad to protect your table from drippy, hot dishes at dinner time! 

I guess it's just an Itteh Bitteh Quilted Thingeh after all. Heh. 

(The finished Quilted Object is approximately 14 inches square. The blue patches are a repurposed, thrifted bed sheet. The Wonky Nine Patch pattern is based on a tutorial from Oh, Fransson!. The tutorial can be found here. The Wonky Nine Patches are made from 9 fat quarters. The binding is IKEA Unbleached Cotton, and cut on the bias. This project was the perfect size to use up some bias binding I had already made up. I will NOT be making bias binding again any time soon...at least, not until I start making round quilts! The bias was made as "continuous binding", which means that the binding was NOT a straight line. Ugh. Wish I had thought that one through before I used up all my favorite binding fabric making continuous bias binding!)

Thing a Day 23: Deep Dark...

...in a corner of the house....tulips, waiting to bud! 

I looked up directions on forcing flowers, and then recruited my two littles to help me. Pick up the pebbles, put them in the pans. No, not in your mouth...in the man! Yes, good...no, do NOT throw them. Thank you. Good job, big sister! Now, smooth them all out. Yes, please, hand me bulbs...ok. Good. Good. Now water...no, stop! Don't bump me! Ok, just enough water. Now let's carry them all downstairs!

These pots of rocks and bulbs and water will wait in a dark corner of my boiler room for a few weeks, and then (hopefully) I'll have some beautiful blooms come April!

Thing a Day 22: Pink Pancakes!

Pink Pancakes!!!! 

Daddy worked late, and we're trying to get through a bunch of STUFF in the pantry. So, tonight...Krusteaz pancakes for the kids and I! (Because I'm not mean enough to subject my husband to...pink pancakes for dinner. Breakfast, maybe. Read on.) 

I wanted to make it fun, so I added a little Sala Flavored Syrup. (A friend introduced me to it....it's about $2 for a wine-bottle sized bottle of bright pink syrup. The syrup can be mixed into milk, seltzer water, plain water...or pancake batter, apparently!) 

Mmmmm...pink, carbohydrate-y goodness!